My little slice of the World Wide Web

About Me

Kris Ade is an accomplished communications and culinary professional, with nearly 15 years of experience in challenging and diverse work environments—from Parliament Hill and City Hall in Ottawa to commercial kitchens in Toronto and Winnipeg.

He was most recently the Chef-de-Cuisine of the University of Winnipeg’s Diversity Food Services, overseeing both their catering and campus operations and managing a kitchen brigade of nearly 50 people. Among his accomplishments, he implemented a progressive wage structure and standardized employee evaluations, and pushed the organization towards more sustainable and environmentally responsible operational practices, securing national accreditation for the company in the process.

While a student of Culinary Arts at Red River College, Kris was awarded two significant merit-based scholarships, competed in both the provincial and national Skills Canada culinary competitions, and earned his class’ Gold Medal upon graduating in 2012.

Kris is a gifted writer and public speaker, and leveraged those skills in the service of Members of Parliament, Ministers of the Crown and senior public officials during his nearly ten years working in politics. While the Strategic Communications and Special Events Advisor for then-Leader of the Opposition, Stéphane Dion, Kris was also among a very select group of people trusted to prepare the Leader for his appearance in the House of Commons’ daily Question Period.

His political activism began with a bang: Kris was a candidate for the Manitoba Liberal Party in 2003, at the age of 21. In the intervening years, he has worked on numerous political campaigns. He has also written extensively for the online, Prairie-based news magazine, Spectator Tribune.

While pursuing his undergraduate studies at the University of Winnipeg, Kris developed and implemented an innovative school-wide debate and speech program at the Gray Academy of Jewish Education, teaching over 140 students. An internationally-recognized debate coach and judge, Kris has also spent nearly a decade mentoring Canadian and international students in speech and debate and has represented Canada as an official adjudicator at World Schools Debating Championships in Singapore, Peru, Germany, Wales, Korea, United States, Greece and Qatar.

Kris credits his time with Stéphane Dion, both during Mr. Dion’s leadership campaign and while he was the Leader of the Opposition, for inspiring his own deeply-held passion for the natural environment; a passion that subsequently grounded his work as professional chef. A lover of travel, Kris has been fortunate to visit many parts of the world both professionally and in his personal time.

He is currently pursuing his juris doctor at the University of Ottawa.